Dateline: Where desperate fantasy ends and reality begins
This is a really embarrassing post to write. In fact, I’ve been kind of dragging my heels about it. You see, I’ve long projected an impression of someone cultivated, someone who knows his baroque from his rococo, and someone knowledgeable about art history and its impact on architecture and design. And I’ve long talked about my house here as being Art Deco. In fact, I’ve even referred to it as “The Art Deco Fantasy.” I’ve spent a lot of time looking for art deco design inspiration. I’ve taken thousands of pictures of Art Deco houses and buildings around La Condesa and Roma Sur. I’ve virtually SOAKED myself in Art Deco design inspiration.
But I’ve been living an Art Deco lie. I’ve been putting up an Art Deco façade that’s entirely false. And I’m kind of ashamed and embarrassed to admit it. I’m sorry.
Yet the truth has set me free. The reality is this: my house isn’t really Art Deco, at least not pure Art Deco. Please, don’t hate me for leading you (and myself) astray. But not only have I been personally deluded, I’ve deluded all of you, my faithful readers. And for that, I beg forgiveness.
The reality is that my house is really more Bauhaus. In all fairness, there’s no bright line between the two. Both took place in the 1920s and 30s, and both reflect ideas of mass production of elegant, machine-inspired, modern things. Still, I should have known better. The house was built in 1938, certainly well after the peak of Art Deco, and when Bauhaus was becoming an international design phenomenon. The design of my house is fairly spare, totally consistent with the Bauhaus thesis. Sure, the massing is kind of Art Deco, and the round windows in the façade could be interpreted as Art Deco. But those round windows are also a key design element in Bauhaus. The real tell? On my house, there’s a near-total absence of diagonal lines, and all of the adornment is very simple. This should have tipped me off, but I was smitten and oblivious.
How did this happen?
The reason is even more cringe than I want to admit. But I was so focused on Art Deco that I had kind of forgotten about Bauhaus. And I was an Art Deco Denizen Wannabe of the worst kind, imagining speakeasies and jazz clubs around every corner. Which is to say that I so desperately wanted to live the whole Art Deco lifestyle that when I discovered this sexy, old building, I just forcibly defined him as Art Deco and then just went home with him, unleashing my fantasies, reality be damned. We communed, him being his clean, elegant Bauhaus self, while I was swooning in an Art Deco delusion, fantasies of the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center, and other Art Deco buildings flooding my imagination as we negotiated plumbing, among other things. It’s embarrassing to admit, but it’s true. I was living a fantasy that had no moorings.
So how did I ever awaken to reality? My dining room window was the first to show me the truth. The window that was there when I bought the house was a basic grid window, though polluted by later (unfortunate) design decisions. Those later decisions included diagonal cross-bars across every perfect rectangle of glass. I had wanted to replace the entire thing, so I had to come up with new designs. Naturally, I kept coming up with Art Deco designs, with extravagant diagonal features, or Asian-inspired rectangular forms. Sadly, none of them looked right in the context of the house. There’s hardly an original diagonal line in the entire house. If you exclude the stairway, there aren’t any at all. It’s a very rectangular house, punctuated by a few circles on the façade. Why wasn’t this Art-Deco thing working???
I don’t know what hit me. But I suddenly thought, “Bauhaus,” and then began to look around the web. Sure enough, my “Art Deco” house was suddenly looking a lot (LOT) more like Bauhaus than Art Deco. I could no longer deny it. Heck, the house itself even looks related to the building that housed the Bauhaus itself. (Which was a German art school, active between 1919 and 1933 before it was shut down by the Nazis).
Living with my house as it was in reality rather than what it was in my fantasies turned out to be the right thing. Suddenly EVERYTHING fell into place and just felt right. Take the dining room window. Once I got rid of all the crossbars, it was a very handsome window in its own right. Simple, composed of repeating rectangles, it has a modern, spare, and ultimately elegant form. The same thing happened with the façade. Though the changes have yet to be implemented, taking a Bauhaus approach has made the design task VASTLY easier. I will remove the cross bars on the garage and the front door. That front door which now has a sort of horizontal quality will now get some vertical divider bars, essentially doubling the number of panes. All of that will unify the design of the façade, and I will now be able to live openly as a Bauhaus inhabitant.
It’s all falling into place design-wise now. While I’ll still love Art Deco, deeply in my heart, I’ll be living in a Bauhaus, and all the happier for living in truth, living in concordance with actual reality.
It is Bauhaus and now it’s my house and my reality too.
El Gringo Suelto 
It’s been so long… I wonder what the house is looking like these days. And you too. Hope your doing very well. Recibe un fuerte abrazo.
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Hola Tino! Thanks, yes, it has been a long time. Lots to tell. Hugs!
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I’m no architecture historian, but it seems architectural styles derive from and evolve into one another, so there is no clear demarcation lines, as I think you mention in your blog. So Bauhaus evolved from the arts and crafts movement and eventually into the minimalism of Mies, and all his glass and steel buildings. So more specifically than just Bauhaus-ish, your building could be art deco-ish with some art nouveau-esque details or who knows. I doubt it’s an a high exemplar of any style.
Since you clearly are on the high end of the anal retentive spectrum, one way to pin down the stylistic and historical provenance of your building would be to search CDMX property records (ha! though you might be surprised) and pin down the date of construction and the name of the architect. If you get lucky before you go bat-shit crazy, the name of the architect would point you to other buildings he designed and even a copy of the plans or at least construction sketches. That’ll keep you busy.
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Hola Al!
I did spend a while thinking the building was built in 1930, but then I decided to ask La Señora and she told me 1938. I’ve mentally used that date ever since. And that’s part of why I decided the building was more Bauhaus than Art Deco. By 1938 Art Deco had mostly morphed into Streamline Moderne, if not almost entirely disappeared, to be supplanted by Bauhaus or it’s rebranded form “International Style,” which carried on into the 60s and even later in some places.
As for the CDMX property records, many of the older ones were toppled to the floor during the Earthquake of 1985, and (at least according to lore) to this day still haven’t been entirely sorted out and re-filed. I also doubt that my house was done by an architect of any note. Many of the better buildings of that era here do have architect’s plaques. Sadly, mine does not. Still, I like the idea, and when I’m a little less busy with the restoration I’ll see what I can dig up. I’m also thinking of either joining or starting some kind of Art Deco/Bauhaus society for folks here as interested in the topic as I am. As for when I might go “bat-shit crazy,” how can you be certain that that date hasn’t already passed?
Cheers and thanks for your comment!
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You are a funny fellow, Kim. I like the way you have confessed. It speaks to your character that you — finally — owned up in public that which you have done, the self-deception, the lies, the coverups. It is admirable. It is stellar.
The Bauhaus building, the art school, looks like a prison. Egad! What were they thinking?
As for the horizontal bars on your front door and garage door, I bet they were added as a security measure. Maybe not.
In any event, keep us posted.
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Hola Michael,
Thanks for supporting my moral growth. It was an important step, and I think I’m the better for it. As for the diagonal bars, yes, I think you’re right, though there are places where they really aren’t necessary (like inside the cage that covers the front window). But I will have laminated glass in the garage and front door, so I’ll have plenty of security. Cheers and thanks for your comment!
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Oh dear! Does that mean we have to look at more tiles and different paint colors? 😉
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You are funny. But he is gay, so the answer is yes.
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This project wouldn’t have been possible without Carole’s support. She lives upstairs of me and has looked at hundreds, perhaps thousands of tile samples, has reviewed paint colors at a moment’s notice, and has listened to lots of general whining about the difficulties of historic restoration, contractor troubles, as well as other stuff. So she deserves a sort of Pritzker Prize for the best supporting role in an architectural restoration. Cheers!
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I accept the prize! Where is the ceremony? Seriously, it is fun for me !……
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We’ll do the ceremony in the new house. And I’m delighted you are enjoying the process because it probably wouldn’t have been possible without you.
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Hola Carole,
There are more paint and tile samples in our future. But you can bow out any time you want, though I hope you won’t. Thanks for your continued support. Hugs!!!
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Kim, you know I love every minute of tile and paint shopping! I look forward to many samples in my future!
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Thank you Carole! See my reply to Michael. You are MUCH appreciated. Hugs!!!
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Bauhaus???? I had not heard of it until now. Where have I been? Bauhaus and art deco are rare these days and, to me, both are desirable. If you wish to design the interior in art deco I certainly would say “go for it.” Mix it up! Also, “bauhaus” sounds like it should translate to “bath house” in German. If that were the case, that is more desirable still! Let the orgies begin!!!!!
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Hola Fred! Thanks for a good chuckle first thing in the morning. While I’m tile-obsessed, I don’t know if even I have enough to run a bath house, hehe. As for the interior, yes, it’s going to be a mix of stuff. Hugs!!!
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